Multiple camp chair



Oct. 12, 1937. E. l.- ALLEN MULTIPLE CAMP CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 17, 1955 E. I. ALLEN Oct. 12, 1937. E. l. ALLEN MULTIPLE CAMP CHAIR Filed Aug. 17, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 7

E. I. ALLEN FIG. 6

FIG. 8

Patented Oct. 12, 1937 irse smrss PATENT OFFICE MULTIPLE CAMP CHAIR 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an assembly seatand has for an object to provide an improved assembly seat which is intended for use in an auditorium, armory, or other available iloor space and which may be quickly and inexpensively set up or removed from operation position.

At the present time it is usually customary to provide collapsible camp chairs or other similar 'eating assemblies when it is desired temporarily cr more or less permanently to use a large floor or open space such as the inside of an armory, auditorium, deck of a ship, or the like, for assembly purposes. Such arrangements are usually unsatisfactory in that the separate seats are apt to be easily disarranged and, further, apt to prove noisy in use, thereby interfering with the intended assembly use thereof. Furthermore, such temporary seats as are provided are usually hard backed and provided with hard seats, mak- 2() ing the same obviously uncomfortable and nonform tting.

With this invention, however, it becomes possible to provide an assembly seating arrangement which may be easily and inexpensively used for converting a floor to an assembly hall and which, furthermore, provides a iexible or soft form fitting seat and seat back which are comfortable and at the same time silent in use. The seating arrangement of this invention is such that it may 30 be quickly and easily made up from raw lumber by any carpenter in one form and in another form may be fashioned of pipe or other shaped metal sections so that it may be quickly and easily assembled or disassembled as desired. It is available for repeated use and requires less storage space than folding chairs. Variety in leg height is easily arranged and gives the eiect of banking or ramping on a flat surface. 'I'he assemblies being made up in groups of as many 40 seats as desired, they become rows or benches and consequently more uniform and stable.

With the foregoing and otherobjectives in View as will herein become apparent, this invention includes the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinbefore disclosed, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein;

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of one form of the assembly seats of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a front plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan View! of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is an end View on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an isometric view of another form of the assembly seats of this invention.

Fig. 6 is a front plan view of Fig. 5.

.55 Fig. '7 is a top plan View of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is an end plan view of Fig. 5.

Fig. 9 is a section on line 9 9 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 10 is a section on line Ill- I0 of Fig. '7.

There is shown at I0 an assembled row of seats of this invention which, as will be observed, may be constructed by a carpenter out of ordinary plank lumber. The seats I 0 include a strip of canvas forming the successive seats II and another strip of canvas forming the successive seat backs I2 which are mounted on a framework. `This framework includes a pair of vertical front and rear legs I4 and I5 which may be secured by brackets at I6 to the floor surface il, or which may be fastened directly to the oor without brackets. A seat rail I8 is secured to the tops of each pair of legs I4 and I5, the simplest way of doing this being to fasten them flat against the sides of the legs as shown. The seat rails I8 carry the canvas seat strip I I which is tacked and glued to the upper edge thereof as at although any other means of securing strip II to the seat rail I8 may be provided. If additional surface for securing the canvas seat strip I I is desired, it may be provided by doubling the seat rails I B, placing one on each side o-f each pair of legs I4 and I5. Each pair of legs I4 and I5 is further secured together by a rung or brace I9 secured to them near their lower ends, although this rung or brace may be omitted, if desired, in view of the fact that the lower ends of the legs I4 and I5 may be secured to the floor as described above.

It will be observed that there is a slight amount of slack in seat strip II between the cross beams I8 whereby the seat strip II will be form iitting and provide a suitable seat between the upper cross beams I8. In construction the canvas is stretched tightly, and this slack takes place as the material stretches in use. To assist in holding the vertical legs I4 and I5 in upright positions, the rear leg I5 is provided with a pair of upper and lower brace members 2| and 22 fastened across the back thereof and extending between successive rear vertical legs I5 for the entire length of the assembled seats. The lower brace may be omitted, if not desired as a foot rest for the next row of seats in back of it. The front legs I4 may be reinforced by sway braces 23 which, it will be observed, are secured across the rear of the front vertical legs I4 and may extend across four vertical legs and serve as a brace for three complete seats, the next angular brace 23 being secured to the upper part of that leg I4 which has secured thereto the lower part of the rst mentioned angular brace 23.

As thus described, a canvas bench of indefinite length may be provided which is adequately braced and provides an individual seating space between each pair of upright legs, which seating space, formed by the canvas strip H, is form fitting and comfortable. There is also provided similar comfortable seat backs by securing a support 24 to the rung or brace iii or to the floor and to the rear of the seat rail i8. The support 24 extends above brace i8 to act as a securing means for the seat back canvas strip i2 which is secured In the form of the invention just described it will be observed that the entire device may 'be quickly and simply assembled byany carpenter of average skill and that when the necessity therefor disappears, either temporarily or per-manently, the seats may be quickly and easily disassembled and removed from the floor Il'. It will be further observed that the bracket i6, although secured to the legs le and 5.5, need not have any attaching means to the floor Il and may rest thereon and remain in operative position whileY in use without the necessity of being secured to the ii'oor li., inasmuch as the seats are adequately braced and secured together, for these. brackets may be omitted without sacrificing rigidity.

In another form of this invention, shown in Figs. -i'), inclusive, the assembly seat 30 utilizes the same canvas seat strips ll and canvas seat back strips IZ, but insteadof having a iramework of wood, the framework is formed of pipe or other metal sections as shown. In this case the floor 3l maybe provided with sockets 32 to receive the .lower ends of the metal sections, or flanges .fon the lower ends may be secured to the iioor. The sockets .ivwhen not in use for receiving the `metal ends are to be filled with closure plugs so as to restore the. floor surface when the assembly seats are not in position thereon. The framework includes a front leg metal section 33 and a rear leg metal section 34, the front leg metal section 33 being attached to an intermediate porticn of the .rear .leg by means of a horizontal cross member .35 and a T-joint 35. The .rear leg 3'@ extends parallel t'o the front leg '33 tor a height vequal tothe height of the front legv33 and then is bent .backwards at a slight angle as at 3G, so as to actas a support' for receiving the canvas seat back strips 1.2.. The canvas strips IZand similarly thecanvas strips li are `secured to theirsupporting members by any suitable means. 1 A clamp member Slis here shown as being secured as at 38 to the section 36 of the vertical leg 3'@ and is adapted to clamp the canvas strip l2 therein, a Vsimilar or other suitable V'arrangement being .provided with the canvas seat strip Il. In this form, the front thereto by tacks or other suitable securing means legs 33 are provided with horizontal brace members 38 while the rear legs 34 are pro-vided with a pair of upper and lower horizontal brace members 39 and 46, suitably secured thereto as by bolts 4|. The lower horizontal brace may be omitted without detriment, if lower ends of legs 3B are fastened to the floor. An additional angular brace member 42 may be provided extending between any or every pair of adjacent seatsl as a sway brace or stiffener.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes, without the payment of any royalty thereon.

I claim:

1. A chair comprising a pair of seat rails at the sides of the chair, front and rear legs secured to and extending down from said seat rails, back members secured to said seat `rails and said back legs at their juncture and extending above and below said seat rails at an angle to said back legs, a flexible seat secured to and extending between said seat rails, a flexible back secured to and extending between said back members above said seat rails, laterally extending braces securing said front legs together and securing said rear legs together, and horizontally extending rigid means spaced from and below the seat rails and secured to the back and front legs and to the lower parts of the back members, said rigid means forming rigid triangular structures with said b-ack legs and said back members and thereby rigidly bracing said chair against backward or forward deformation.

2. A chair frame comprising a narrow board rextending up to form a back member and having its sides lying in vertical planes, a second narrow board secured flat against one of the sides of the iirst board at an intermediate point thereof and extending forward substantially horizontally to form a seat rail, a third narrow board extending down from the juncture of the iirst and second .boards and in back of and at an angle to said back member, said third board being secured .flat against a side of one of the iirst two boards and forming a back leg, a fourth narrow board extending down from the seat rail near its forward -end to form a front leg, and rigid means spaced from and below vthe seat rail vand having the "bac-k and front legs and he lower part of the back member secured thereto, said rigid means forming a rigid triangular structure with said back leg and said back member and thereby mak- .ing the entire frame rigid.

3. A chair frame as described in claim 2 in which :said rigid means is a rung secured to said legs.

EDITH I. ALLEN. 

